Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's announcement earlier this week that he will not run next year for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Barbara Boxer came as something of a surprise, at least at this early date.

At a time when stark achievement gaps remain unresolved, when increased funding in education is more badly needed than ever, and when too many schools are seeking to exempt English language learners from their accountability systems, H.R. 5 threatens to exacerbate the educational inequities that have long held back Latino students in our schools.

As long as Republicans keep opposing policies that most Latinos and Americans as a whole support, it's unlikely the Libre Initiative will have much success. But given the deep support and huge bank accounts of its two most important funders, the threat posed by Libre is one that we should all take seriously.

By attempting to repeal President Obama's executive action through both the courts and the Department of Homeland Security funding bill, Republicans are taking the wrong approach to immigration reform.

Low income working families seeking to simply pay the bills confront an array of challenges these days. "Payday lenders" are taking advantage of a borrower's precarious financial state and profit from pushing low-income families deeper into debt and poverty.

I am also remembering my moment with Mom and César Chávez for another reason: I am angry. I am angry that the very Antiquities Act, which gives presidents power to set aside National Monuments, is about to be gutted.

We still have the better part of one year before the Iowa Caucuses and things can change, but it is very hard to imagine the potential GOP candidates moving towards a more moderate or pro-immigration reform position as they attempt to woo Republican primary voters.

Of the various domestic policy prescriptions of President Obama's 2015 State of the Union address, one message stood out clearly: though the economy has improved significantly since the darkest days of the Recession, the nation still has much work to do when it comes to reducing economic inequality.

Limiting the pollution that causes climate change by getting us away from coal burning power plants and moving us towards a clean energy future is a critical step in tackling this crisis and the problems that come with it.

As the film Selma screens nationwide to critical acclaim, police from Clarke County arrested nine students on Friday evening in Athens, Georgia, for organizing the first "integrated classroom" for both undocumented and documented youth at the University of Georgia.

The country's Hispanic future is rapidly coming of age. One million new adult Hispanics in 2015 is just the latest milestone that shows us every day the growing power of their influence. Smart business and politicians will embrace this change, if they wish to seek their own growth and influence.

Before the ink was dry on the 2014-midterm election results, talk shifted to 2016. For the first time in eight years, both parties will be nominating fresh representatives who will attempt to sell their vision to an electorate largely disenchanted with both Democrats and Republicans.

What if I told you that the cure for cancer will come from the mind of a Hispanic girl in South Central Los Angeles? Or that the invention that will replace the Internet will come from the imagination of a Black boy from Harlem?

It's time for our government to respond to Mario Cuomo's incisive critiques of an American elite that leaves the poor, young, elderly and Americans of color on the darker and dingier side of the shining city on the hill.